Methods of forming materials for at least a portion of a NFT and NFTs formed using the same

ABSTRACT

A method including depositing a plasmonic material at a temperature of at least 150° C.; and forming at least a peg of a near field transducer (NFT) from the deposited plasmonic material.

PRIORITY

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/838,397 entitled “METHODS OF FORMING AU AND AU ALLOYS” filed on Jun. 24, 2013, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference thereto.

SUMMARY

Disclosed are methods including depositing a plasmonic material at a temperature of at least 150° C.; and forming at least a peg of a near field transducer (NFT) from the deposited plasmonic material.

Also disclosed are near field transducers (NFTs) that includes a peg, the peg having an average grain size of not less than 75 nm.

Also disclosed are methods that include depositing a plasmonic material at a temperature of at least 150° C.; and forming at least a peg of a near field transducer (NFT) from the deposited plasmonic material, wherein neither the deposited material is annealed nor the peg is annealed once formed, and the peg has an average grain size of not less than 50 nm.

The above summary of the present disclosure is not intended to describe each disclosed embodiment or every implementation of the present disclosure. The description that follows more particularly exemplifies illustrative embodiments. In several places throughout the application, guidance is provided through lists of examples, which examples can be used in various combinations. In each instance, the recited list serves only as a representative group and should not be interpreted as an exclusive list.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a pictorial representation of a data storage device in the form of a disc drive that can include a recording head constructed in accordance with an aspect of this disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of a recording head constructed in accordance with an aspect of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of a near field transducer.

FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of another near field transducer.

FIGS. 5A to 5C show AFM images of Au grains for a 150 nm Au layer sputter deposited at room temperature without a seed layer (FIG. 5A), a 150 nm Au layer sputter deposited at 225° C. without a seed layer (FIG. 5B), and a 150 nm Au layer sputter deposited at 190° C. on a 5 Å Zr seed layer (FIG. 5C).

FIGS. 6A and 6B show AFM images of room temperature deposited grains (FIG. 6A) and 190° C. deposited grains (FIG. 6B).

FIG. 7 shows a graph with the calculated temperature of a room temperature deposited peg and a high temperature deposited peg.

FIGS. 8A, 8B, and 8C show stress versus temperature measurements for 150 nm films sputter deposited on a 5 Å Zr seed layer at room temperature (FIG. 8A), at room temperature and annealed at 225° C. for 3 hours (FIG. 8B), and at 190° C. (FIG. 8C).

The figures are not necessarily to scale. Like numbers used in the figures refer to like components. However, it will be understood that the use of a number to refer to a component in a given figure is not intended to limit the component in another figure labeled with the same number.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Heat assisted magnetic recording (referred to through as HAMR) utilizes radiation, for example from a laser, to heat media to a temperature above its curie temperature, enabling magnetic recording. In order to deliver the radiation, e.g., a laser beam, to a small area (on the order of 20 to 50 nm for example) of the medium, a NFT is utilized. During a magnetic recording operation, the NFT absorbs energy from a laser and focuses it to a very small area; this can cause the temperature of the NFT to increase. The temperature of the NFT can be elevated up to about 400° C. or more.

The very high temperatures that the NFT reaches during operation can lead to diffusion of the material of the NFT (for example gold) from the peg and towards the disk. In addition, a portion of the NFT may be exposed at the air bearing surface of the recording head and is thus subject to mechanical wearing. NFT performance is greatly influenced by the heat and mechanical stress during HAMR operation. It would therefore be advantageous to have NFT devices that are more durable.

Disclosed devices can offer the advantage of providing more efficient transfer of energy from an energy source to the magnetic storage media to be heated, a smaller focal point at the point of heating, or some combination thereof. In some embodiments, disclosed devices can be used within other devices or systems, such as magnetic recording heads, more specifically, thermally or heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) heads, or disc drives that include such devices.

Disclosed herein are NFTs and devices that include such NFTs. FIG. 1 is a pictorial representation of a data storage device in the form of a disc drive 10 that can utilize disclosed NFTs. The disc drive 10 includes a housing 12 (with the upper portion removed and the lower portion visible in this view) sized and configured to contain the various components of the disc drive. The disc drive 10 includes a spindle motor 14 for rotating at least one magnetic storage media 16 within the housing. At least one arm 18 is contained within the housing 12, with each arm 18 having a first end 20 with a recording head or slider 22, and a second end 24 pivotally mounted on a shaft by a bearing 26. An actuator motor 28 is located at the arm's second end 24 for pivoting the arm 18 to position the recording head 22 over a desired sector or track 27 of the disc 16. The actuator motor 28 is regulated by a controller, which is not shown in this view and is well-known in the art. The storage media may include, for example, continuous media or bit patterned media.

For heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), electromagnetic radiation, for example, visible, infrared or ultraviolet light is directed onto a surface of the data storage media to raise the temperature of a localized area of the media to facilitate switching of the magnetization of the area. Recent designs of HAMR recording heads include a thin film waveguide on a slider to guide light toward the storage media and a near field transducer to focus the light to a spot size smaller than the diffraction limit. While FIG. 1 shows a disc drive, disclosed NFTs can be utilized in other devices that include a near field transducer.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of a recording head that may include a disclosed NFT; the recording head is positioned near a storage media. The recording head 30 includes a substrate 32, a base coat 34 on the substrate, a bottom pole 36 on the base coat, and a top pole 38 that is magnetically coupled to the bottom pole through a yoke or pedestal 40. A waveguide 42 is positioned between the top and bottom poles. The waveguide includes a core layer 44 and cladding layers 46 and 48 on opposite sides of the core layer. A mirror 50 is positioned adjacent to one of the cladding layers. The top pole is a two-piece pole that includes a first portion, or pole body 52, having a first end 54 that is spaced from the air bearing surface 56, and a second portion, or sloped pole piece 58, extending from the first portion and tilted in a direction toward the bottom pole. The second portion is structured to include an end adjacent to the air bearing surface 56 of the recording head, with the end being closer to the waveguide than the first portion of the top pole. A planar coil 60 also extends between the top and bottom poles and around the pedestal. In this example, the top pole serves as a write pole and the bottom pole serves as a return pole.

An insulating material 62 separates the coil turns. In one example, the substrate can be AlTiC, the core layer can be Ta₂O₅, and the cladding layers (and other insulating layers) can be Al₂O₃. A top layer of insulating material 63 can be formed on the top pole. A heat sink 64 is positioned adjacent to the sloped pole piece 58. The heat sink can be comprised of a non-magnetic material, such as for example Au.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the recording head 30 includes a structure for heating the magnetic storage media 16 proximate to where the write pole 58 applies the magnetic write field H to the storage media 16. In this example, the media 16 includes a substrate 68, a heat sink layer 70, a magnetic recording layer 72, and a protective layer 74. However, other types of media, such as bit patterned media can be used. A magnetic field H produced by current in the coil 60 is used to control the direction of magnetization of bits 76 in the recording layer of the media.

The storage media 16 is positioned adjacent to or under the recording head 30. The waveguide 42 conducts light from a source 78 of electromagnetic radiation, which may be, for example, ultraviolet, infrared, or visible light. The source may be, for example, a laser diode, or other suitable laser light source for directing a light beam 80 toward the waveguide 42. Specific exemplary types of light sources 78 can include, for example laser diodes, light emitting diodes (LEDs), edge emitting laser diodes (EELs), vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs), and surface emitting diodes. In some embodiments, the light source can produce energy having a wavelength of 830 nm, for example. Various techniques that are known for coupling the light beam 80 into the waveguide 42 may be used. Once the light beam 80 is coupled into the waveguide 42, the light propagates through the waveguide 42 toward a truncated end of the waveguide 42 that is formed adjacent the air bearing surface (ABS) of the recording head 30. Light exits the end of the waveguide and heats a portion of the media, as the media moves relative to the recording head as shown by arrow 82. A near-field transducer (NFT) 84 is positioned in or adjacent to the waveguide and at or near the air bearing surface. The heat sink material may be chosen such that it does not interfere with the resonance of the NFT.

Although the example of FIG. 2 shows a perpendicular magnetic recording head and a perpendicular magnetic storage media, it will be appreciated that the disclosure may also be used in conjunction with other types of recording heads and/or storage media where it may be desirable to concentrate light to a small spot.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a lollypop NFT 90 in combination with a heat sink 92. The NFT includes a disk shaped portion 94 and a peg 96 extending from the disk shaped portion. The heat sink 92 can be positioned between the disk shaped portion and the sloped portion of the top pole in FIG. 2. When mounted in a recording head, the peg may be exposed at the ABS and thus can be subjected to mechanical wearing.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a coupled nanorod (CNR) NFT 100. This NFT includes two nanorods 102 and 104 separated by a gap 106. Nanorod 102 includes a first portion 108 and a second portion 110. Nanorod 104 includes a first portion 112 and a second portion 114. When mounted in a recording head, the ends 116 and 118 of the nanorods may be exposed at the ABS and thus be subject to mechanical wearing. FIGS. 3 and 4 show example NFTs. However, the disclosure is not limited to any particular type of NFT. The materials described below may be used in various NFT configurations.

Typical methods of forming NFTs include room temperature sputter deposition of a film followed by an annealing step before the film is patterned into a peg of a NFT (the disk of a NFT may not necessarily typically be annealed). The most common mechanism of NFT failure is peg recession when the NFT is subjected to high operating temperatures. Although the exact origin of peg recession is yet to be understood, the current hypotheses point to several sources of vacancies in peg/disc materials. The sources of vacancies could originate from trapped voids or micro-pores during film growth and the presence of grain boundaries. During high temperature HAMR operation, large grain growth of the NFT peg and disk have been observed, possibly at the expense of these sources of vacancies such voids and grain boundaries. Another aspect of NFT failure is believed to be related to growth induced stress in the NFT during peg and disk deposition. Growth induced stress adds to all other sources of stress such as stress due to peg patterning, stress due to surrounding dielectrics and slider processes for example. Aggregated stress induced NFT failure may be detrimental at the high temperatures at which HAMR operates.

Disclosed herein are methods of forming NFTs that may serve to address the problems noted above. Disclosed methods deposit the materials that will ultimately become the NFT at higher temperatures. The higher deposition temperatures can be close to or in some embodiments even above HAMR operating temperatures, but still within thermal constraints imposed by other structures or materials within the head. Deposition of the NFT material at high temperatures can increase the probability of having fewer grains, grains having larger dimensions, or both making up the peg. In some embodiments, deposition of the NFT material at high temperatures can mores specifically increase the probability of having fewer grains, e.g., one or two, in the peg whose length is on the order of 50 to 100 nm. Reducing the number of grains, increasing the dimensions of the grain, or both may decrease the number of grain boundaries that can act as a source of vacancies, and may therefore decrease peg recession at high temperatures.

In some embodiments, materials that will become a NFT, or a peg (or rod) of a NFT can be deposited at temperatures of not less than 25° C., in some embodiments not less than 50° C., in some embodiments not less than 100° C., in some embodiments not less than 150° C., in some embodiments not less than 175° C., in some embodiments not less than 180° C., in some embodiments not less than 195° C., or in some embodiments not less than 220° C. In some embodiments, materials that will become a NFT, or a peg (or rod) of a NFT can be deposited at temperatures of not greater than 225° C. Deposition at a noted temperature means that the substrate upon which deposition is occurring is being maintained at the noted temperature.

In some embodiments, the material that will become a NFT, or a peg (or rod) of a NFT can be deposited using sputter deposition, ion-beam deposition, evaporation, molecular beam epitaxy, or chemical vapor deposition for example. Appropriate deposition conditions, such as power, pressure (or gas flow), or substrate temperature for example, can be chosen such that the film has low stress, good within wafer thickness uniformity, and low roughness for example.

Materials deposited using high temperature thickness can have advantageous properties regardless of the thickness of the layer deposited. It should be noted that experimental results are shown below for films having thicknesses of about 150 nm, but the properties exhibited by such films would be expected to be seen in films having any thickness.

In some embodiments various materials can be utilized for NFTs (pegs, rods, disks, or any combination thereof). In some embodiments, the material may be a plasmonic material or an alloy thereof. In some embodiments, the material may be gold (Au), silver (Ag), copper (Cu), aluminum (Al), or any one of those with a secondary element alloyed or doped therein. In some embodiments, the material may be gold (Au), for example. In some embodiments, the materials for a NFT (pegs, rods, disks, or any combination thereof) can include those found in In some embodiments, the secondary atom can include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,427,925, U.S. Patent Publication Number 20140050057, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/923,925 entitled MAGNETIC DEVICES INCLUDING FILM STRUCTURES, U.S. patent application filed on the same day herewith having Ser. No. 14/313,651 entitled MATERIALS FOR NEAR FIELD TRANSDUCERS AND NEAR FIELD TRANSDUCERS CONTAINING SAME, U.S. patent application filed on the same day herewith having Ser. No. 14/313,528 entitled MATERIALS FOR NEAR FIELD TRANSDUCERS AND NEAR FIELD TRANSDUCERS CONTAINING SAME, and U.S. patent application filed on the same day herewith having Ser. No. 14/313,717 entitled MATERIALS FOR NEAR FIELD TRANSDUCERS AND NEAR FIELD TRANSDUCERS CONTAINING SAME, the entire disclosures of which are all incorporated herein by reference thereto.

In some embodiments, a material that will become a NFT, or a peg (or rod) of a NFT can be deposited on a seed layer for example. Use of a seed layer can control surface morphology and reduce surface roughness. Illustrative materials for seed layers can include zirconium nitride (ZrN), titanium nitride (TiN), tantalum nitride (TaN), tungsten nitride (WN), zirconium (Zr), tantalum (Ta), nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr), and titanium tungsten (TiW) for example. In some embodiments seed layers can have a thickness that is not less than 5 Å and in some embodiments, a seed layer can have a thickness that is not greater than 20 Å.

Use of high temperature deposition may require that often used photoresist be replaced with a material that is stable at higher temperatures. In some embodiments therefore photoresist (if utilized in a process scheme) can be replaced with materials such as oxide layers like SiO₂, Al₂O₃, or amorphous carbon for example. In some embodiments where it may be desired to form a disk of a NFT using high temperature deposition, photoresist that is typically utilized for formation of the disk can be replaced with illustrative oxides or amorphous carbon for example.

Use of high temperature deposition may advantageously render a post-deposition annealing step unnecessary. Films or layers deposited at high temperatures may have acceptable, or in some embodiments even advantageous or desirable properties without subjecting the film to a post-deposition annealing step.

Disclosed methods can also include a step or steps to form a peg of a NFT or a NFT from a high temperature deposited film. In some embodiments, a step of patterning can be included, a step of patterning can include one or more than one step and can utilize known patterning processes including, for example photolithography, etching, etc. In some embodiments, a step of forming a peg can also include using removal methods, such as etching, etc.

Disclosed methods can also include a step or steps to form a disk of a NFT or a NFT from a room temperature deposited or a high temperature deposited film. In some embodiments, a step of patterning can be included, a step of patterning can include one or more than one step and can utilize known patterning processes including, for example photolithography, etching, etc. In some embodiments where a high temperature deposition process is being utilized to form a disk of a NFT, a mold of a material that is more resistant to higher temperatures can be utilized. Illustrative materials can include, for example oxide layers such as SiO₂ or Al₂O₃ for example, or amorphous carbon, for example. In some embodiments, a step of forming a disk, whether done with photoresist or otherwise, can also include using removal methods, such as etching, etc.

Pegs, and/or other structures formed using disclosed methods can have various properties. In some embodiments, pegs and/or other structures formed using disclosed methods can have grain sizes that are larger in comparison to pegs and/or other structures formed by depositing materials at lower temperatures. In some embodiments, materials formed using disclosed methods can have average grain sizes that are not less than 20 nm, in some embodiments not less than 40 nm, in some embodiments not less than 50 nm, in some embodiments not less than 60 nm, or in some embodiments not less than 75 nm for example. In some embodiments, materials formed using high temperature deposition followed by an anneal can have an average grain size that is not less than 40 nm, in some embodiments not less than 50 nm, in some embodiments not less than 60 nm, or in some embodiments not less than 70 nm for example. It should be noted that materials deposited using methods other than disclosed herein often have average grain sizes from 10 to 20 nm, whereas materials deposited using high temperature deposition may have average grain sizes from 50 nm to 70 nm or even 100 nm, for example. It should be noted that materials deposited using methods other than disclosed herein and subsequently annealed often have average grain sizes from 30 to 40 nm, whereas materials deposited using high temperature deposition and then subsequently annealed may have average grain sizes from 70 nm to 80 nm, for example.

While the present disclosure is not so limited, an appreciation of various aspects of the disclosure will be gained through a discussion of the examples provided below.

EXAMPLES High Temperature Deposition

Gold (Au) was deposited under different conditions and the grain sizes of the Au grains were determined using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Sample 1 was a 150 nm Au layer sputter deposited at room temperature without a seed layer; Sample 2 was a 150 nm Au layer sputter deposited at 225° C. without a seed layer; and Sample 3 was a 150 nm Au layer sputter deposited at 190° C. on a 5 Å Zr seed layer. The deposition parameters ranged from a power of 100-1500 W, a pressure of 0.2-5 mT, and an argon (Ar) gas flow of 20-200 sccm.

FIGS. 5A to 5C show AFM images of the Au grains for Sample 1 (FIG. 5A), Sample 2 (FIG. 5B), and Sample 3 (FIG. 5C). The room temperature deposited sample produced small grains having grain sizes from 20 to 50 nm, a large number of grain boundaries, and an average roughness (rms) of 50 Å (FIG. 5A). The sample deposited at 225° C. had grain sizes from 50 to 500 nm, less grain boundaries, and an average roughness (rms) of 100 Å (FIG. 5B). The surface of the Au film deposited at 225° C. had a random morphology and a higher roughness. The sample deposited at 190° C. on a 5 Å Zr seed layer had an average grain size from 50 to 200 nm and an average roughness (rms) of 2 Å. The surface of the sample deposited with the seed layer is also smoother, as is typical with use of a seed layer.

High Temperature Deposition Followed by Annealing

Au films were deposited with a 5 Å Zr seed layer at room temperature and at 190° C., and then oven annealed at 225° C. for about 3 hours, and then subsequently oven annealed at 300° C. for about 3 hours. The room temperature deposited Au had a size ranging from 10 nm to 90 nm with an average of 40 nm as deposited, a size ranging from 30 nm to 110 nm with an average of 62 nm after being annealed at 225° C. for 3 hours, and a size ranging from 30 nm to 130 nm with an average of 66 nm after being further annealed at 300° C. for 3 hours. The 190° C. deposited Au had a size ranging from 50 nm to 200 nm with an average of 77 nm as deposited, a size ranging from 50 nm to 180 nm with an average of 77 nm after being annealed at 225° C. for 3 hours, and a size ranging from 50 nm to 160 nm with an average of 70 nm after being further annealed at 300° C. for 3 hours. FIGS. 6A and 6B show AFM images of the room temperature deposited grains (FIG. 6A) and the 190° C. deposited grains (FIG. 6B).

As seen by comparing these results, the room temperature deposited films show tendencies towards increased grain sizes upon an increase in annealing temperature. The 190° C. deposited film has a stable grain size to being with and does not show further grain growth upon annealing.

Optical Properties

Au films were deposited with a 5 Å Zr seed layer at room temperature and at 190° C. The real part of the refractive index (n) and the imaginary part (κ) were measured. A figure of merit (FOM(eq6)) was also calculated as:

${F\; O\;{M\left( {{eq}6} \right)}} = {3{\frac{ɛ_{1}}{ɛ_{2}}}}$ where ∈₁=n²−k², ∈₂=2 nk. Table 1 below shows the results.

TABLE 1 As deposited Annealed at 225° C. for 3 hr Sample n κ n κ FOM Room Temp 0.236 5.14 0.163 5.32 48.9 190° Dep 0.168 5.46 0.136 5.36 59.1

As seen, the film deposited at high temperatures had a higher FOM than the room temperature deposited and annealed film. This may be due to the combination of the plasmonic nature of the seed film and the ultra-smooth surface of the Au film formed by the high deposition method. Once the optical properties have been measured, the temperature of a peg formed from such a film functioning in a HAMR environment could then be modeled. FIG. 7 shows a graph with the calculated temperature of a room temperature deposited peg and a high temperature deposited peg.

Thermal Conductivities

The thermal conductivities of Au films having various thicknesses sputter deposited on a 5 Å Zr seed layer at room temperature and 280° C. were measured as grown and after a 3 hour anneal at 225° C. Table 2 shows the results. The unit of thermal conductivity in Table 2 is W/m-K.

TABLE 2 Room Temperature Deposition Deposition at 190° C. Thickness (nm) As grown Annealed As grown Annealed 25 100 200 140 220 50 110 220 170 235 100 140 240 190 250 200 160 260 200 270 300 160 260 220 270

As seen from Table 2, the values of measured thermal conductivities are higher for high temperature deposited Au than room temperature deposited Au, and are close to the values for room temperature deposited after being annealed at 225° C. for 3 hours. This indicates that high temperature deposited films can provide thermal transport benefits similar to that of room temperature/annealed films.

Stress Relaxation Temperatures

Stress versus temperature measurements were taken on 150 nm films sputter deposited on a 5 Å Zr seed layer at room temperature, at room temperature and annealed at 225° C. for 3 hours, and at 190° C. FIGS. 8A, 8B, and 8C show those results. FIG. 8A shows the stress vs temperature measurement of a room temperature deposited 150 nm Au film. As can be seen, stress relaxation happens upon heating at temperatures above just above room temperature, indicating the large thermal instability of this film. One way to pre-stabilize such stress would be via post deposition annealing. The stress versus temperature measurements of such a film are shown in FIG. 8B. As seen there, the stress relaxation temperature is beneficially increased to 250° C. FIG. 8C shows stress versus temperature measurement so the film deposited at 190° C. In this case the stress relaxation temperature is also 250° C. Thus, by depositing the film at a high temperature, there is no need to do post-deposition annealing. This could eliminate one step in manufacturing devices including such films.

All scientific and technical terms used herein have meanings commonly used in the art unless otherwise specified. The definitions provided herein are to facilitate understanding of certain terms used frequently herein and are not meant to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

As used in this specification and the appended claims, “top” and “bottom” (or other terms like “upper” and “lower”) are utilized strictly for relative descriptions and do not imply any overall orientation of the article in which the described element is located.

As used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” encompass embodiments having plural referents, unless the content clearly dictates otherwise.

As used in this specification and the appended claims, the term “or” is generally employed in its sense including “and/or” unless the content clearly dictates otherwise. The term “and/or” means one or all of the listed elements or a combination of any two or more of the listed elements.

As used herein, “have”, “having”, “include”, “including”, “comprise”, “comprising” or the like are used in their open ended sense, and generally mean “including, but not limited to”. It will be understood that “consisting essentially of”, “consisting of”, and the like are subsumed in “comprising” and the like. For example, a conductive trace that “comprises” silver may be a conductive trace that “consists of” silver or that “consists essentially of” silver.

As used herein, “consisting essentially of,” as it relates to a composition, apparatus, system, method or the like, means that the components of the composition, apparatus, system, method or the like are limited to the enumerated components and any other components that do not materially affect the basic and novel characteristic(s) of the composition, apparatus, system, method or the like.

The words “preferred” and “preferably” refer to embodiments that may afford certain benefits, under certain circumstances. However, other embodiments may also be preferred, under the same or other circumstances. Furthermore, the recitation of one or more preferred embodiments does not imply that other embodiments are not useful, and is not intended to exclude other embodiments from the scope of the disclosure, including the claims.

Also herein, the recitations of numerical ranges by endpoints include all numbers subsumed within that range (e.g., 1 to 5 includes 1, 1.5, 2, 2.75, 3, 3.80, 4, 5, etc. or 10 or less includes 10, 9.4, 7.6, 5, 4.3, 2.9, 1.62, 0.3, etc.). Where a range of values is “up to” a particular value, that value is included within the range.

Use of “first,” “second,” etc. in the description above and the claims that follow is not intended to necessarily indicate that the enumerated number of objects are present. For example, a “second” substrate is merely intended to differentiate from another infusion device (such as a “first” substrate). Use of “first,” “second,” etc. in the description above and the claims that follow is also not necessarily intended to indicate that one comes earlier in time than the other.

Thus, embodiments of METHODS OF FORMING MATERIALS FOR AT LEAST A PORTION OF A NFT AND NFTS FORMED USING THE SAME are disclosed. The implementations described above and other implementations are within the scope of the following claims. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the present disclosure can be practiced with embodiments other than those disclosed. The disclosed embodiments are presented for purposes of illustration and not limitation. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: depositing a plasmonic material at a temperature of at least 150° C.; and forming at least a peg of a near field transducer (NFT) from the deposited plasmonic material.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plasmonic material is deposited at a temperature of at least 175° C.
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plasmonic material is deposited at a temperature of at least 180° C.
 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein forming at least the peg of the NFT comprises patterning a peg with an oxide or amorphous carbon.
 5. The method according to claim 1 further comprising forming at least a disk of the NFT from a material deposited at a temperature of at least 150° C.
 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the material deposited to form the disk is deposited in a different step than the material deposited to form the peg.
 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plasmonic material is sputter deposited.
 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plasmonic material comprises gold (Au), silver (Ag), copper (Cu), aluminum (Al), or an alloy thereof.
 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the near field transducer comprises gold (Au), or an alloy thereof.
 10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the material is not annealed.
 11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the peg has an average grain size of at least about 50 nm.
 12. A method comprising: depositing a plasmonic material at a temperature of at least 150° C.; and forming at least a peg of a near field transducer (NFT) from the deposited plasmonic material, wherein neither the deposited material is annealed nor the peg is annealed once formed, and the peg has an average grain size of not less than 50 nm.
 13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the deposited plasmonic material comprises gold (Au) or an alloy thereof.
 14. The method according to claim 12 further comprising forming at least a disk from a material deposited at a temperature of at least 150° C. 